Flint is a poor town, with about 42% of the populating living in defined poverty. Now the water is possibly poisoning people, with high levels of lead and an appearance that's been described as "like urine" and smelling "like a sewer". The water problem isn't new but a public health emergency has been declared after doctors spoke out about the elevated levels of lead. The water should be filtered before being ingested.
The problems aren't new; rashes, hair loss, and other health problems have been reported for over a year. Indeed the General Motors engine plant stopped using the city's water due to it's corrosive effect on vehicle parts (link).
Up to last year the town was paying Detroit for its water supply but this ended due to a dispute over costs. Currently the public water supply is sourced from the Flint river (one of the most polluted in the USA). One cause for the lead is pollutants from the river interacting with unreplaced lead pipes to release water soluble lead salts. The FWTP also has had to add extreme levels of chlorine to drinking water to kill bacteria in the river water, this has in the past led to very high levels of trihalomethanes in the treated water.
Detroit News
The problems aren't new; rashes, hair loss, and other health problems have been reported for over a year. Indeed the General Motors engine plant stopped using the city's water due to it's corrosive effect on vehicle parts (link).
Up to last year the town was paying Detroit for its water supply but this ended due to a dispute over costs. Currently the public water supply is sourced from the Flint river (one of the most polluted in the USA). One cause for the lead is pollutants from the river interacting with unreplaced lead pipes to release water soluble lead salts. The FWTP also has had to add extreme levels of chlorine to drinking water to kill bacteria in the river water, this has in the past led to very high levels of trihalomethanes in the treated water.
Detroit News
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1WD8IAF
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